By: Larry Jewett
4/10/2010
“This one is for my dad,” were the words of Limited Late Model racer J.R. Prather Jr., who returned to Victory Lane for the first time since his father, a long time supporter of East Bay, passed away a little more than a year ago. “I tried so hard last year and this is a new year. I was thinking of dad when I crossed the line.”
Prather’s win came from the outside pole of the 15-lap main. “When you’re in the position, you have to seal the deal,” he said. Prather grabbed the lead from the start to back up his heat race. Alex Boerner was thrilling the crowd with his outside runs that moved him into second place by lap 9. Boerner put the pressure on, but Prather was focused on hitting his marks. Boerner kept second as Forrest Gough rallied from an earlier spin for third. William Hampton and Daniel Woody rounded out the top five. Phillip Cobb joined Prather as a heat race winner.
Matthew Haynes became a double winner in the Outlaw 4 class, backing up his win from two weeks ago. Haynes went wire-to-wire in a caution-free affair. Brian Danforth, Billy Howard, 2009 division champion Stephen Hohlbaugh and Charlie Staats completed the top five. Chris Zimmerman and Howard were heat winners.
Roger Crouse made an outside pass on race leader Buzzie Reutimann and parlayed it to his second straight Gagel’s Auto Parts Open Wheel Modified victory. “He has a lot of experience here,” said Crouse of Reutimann. “I tried the outside and it was faster. I can’t believe I passed Buzzie Reutimann outside.” No one else passed Reutimann as he took second, ahead of John Bradley, Bobby Dixon and Austin Sanders, who started 12th in the main. Reutimann and Dixon took preliminary wins.
Former asphalt racer Jeff Rodgers has taken a liking to dirt track racing. Despite starting in the back, Rodgers slipped past race leader Garry Sheffield on the eighth lap and held on to claim his first-ever dirt win in the Street Stock class. Clarence Pratt made a last lap pass on Buck Woodhouse to finish second. Fourth went to Sheffield and former feature winner Thomas Pratt claimed fifth.
Defending champion Jim Baker vaulted from the pole to claim a feature win in the motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. Elliott Morgan added another top five to his resume with a steady second place. John Detamore rallied back to take third, ahead of Jimmy Williams and Patrick Tabb. Roberto Morfin Jr. saw a top five taken away when he refused an engine claim. Baker, Morfin Jr. and Detamore won the heats.
Collin Kruse topped the 10-car field in the Dirt Dauber finale, despite a spin on lap 10.
ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, April 17, 2010. The Racecar Engineering Late Models, East Bay Sprints, Gagel’s Auto Parts Open Wheel Modifieds, Outlaw 4s and motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers are in action. A special driver’s autograph session for Late Model and Sprint drivers will be conducted at intermission. For more information go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.